Yes? Yes? My Lord? The humans are approaching! Oh jeez, I love Warcraft. It's so...corny, yet fun. Whether directing little human soldiers to their doom or working orc peons to the bone cutting down trees and mining gold, it's a game I can't resist spending a few hours with every time I play it. A recent interview with one of its creators has rekindled my love of Warcraft once more and seen the game gently rise up the chart.
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| Taking on Medusa in Myth: History in the Making |
Bar a forthcoming new entry, Myth is the highest Speccy riser in this year's chart, pipping Cobra by 8. I've recently completed not only the Spectrum but also the C64 version for another article and actually thoroughly enjoyed both, despite their differences. I couldn't however, bring myself to put a Commodore 64 game on this list. Sorry!
48.Flying Shark (Spectrum) (down 5)
OK, it's not as good as the arcade version, but Speccy Flying Shark is still a pretty damned good shooter.
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| Jim Bagley's colourful Midnight Resistance |
47.Midnight Resistance (Spectrum) (down 18)
A brilliant late-era run and gunner for the Spectrum; yet its lovely graphics and some thrilling gameplay can't stop it slipping 18 places.
46.Tracksuit Manager (Spectrum) (down 8)
Time has not been kind to this classic football management game; even the earlier iterations of Championship Manager blow it out of the water. I'm surprised it hasn't dropped more than 8 places. (What are you talking about? You wrote the damn list! - ED)
45.Micro Machines (Megadrive) (no move)
Codies super little racer manages to cling on to 45th place.
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| Use the Force! |
44.Star Wars (Arcade) (down 20)
I fear this game is destined to slip down the chart; let's be honest, I'm not likely any time soon to replicate that wonderful feeling you got sitting in that cab in an arcade...
43.Fifa 95 (Megadrive) (down 2)
Still one of my favourite footie games thanks to its simplicity.
42.Revenge of Shinobi (Megadrive) (up 6)
This year's Megadrive resurgence continues with the fantastic Revenge of Shinobi. Tough as old nails, yet always fair, it's a top game, although I don't think I should be letting my son play it. (No mate, you stab that guy with your sword. Well done, that's my boy!)
41.Die Hard Trilogy (Playstation) (up 8)
I was never a huge investor of the Playstation and only a small selection of games ever saw action in the Jdanddiet household. A lot of that was probably due to the fact I played an awful lot of this, which boasted not one, not two, but three great games for your money. Ho-ho-ho indeed.
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| Tron Deadly Discs: Oh no! It's the Recognizer! |
My favourite Intellivision game slips this year as I've not had time to play it for quite a while.
39.Rebelstar (Spectrum) (down 7)
This Julian Gollop classic strategy game really came into its own with the two player option which was guaranteed to invoke a fascinating cat and mouse chase through the deviously-designed Moonbase.
38.Deathchase (Spectrum) (down 1)
Down 1?! The bestest, quickest, wonderfulest Speccy game ever? Alright, I'm still a bit sore Mervyn wouldn't let me interview him - but if he ever changes his mind, watch this one shoot up!
37.Rebelstar 2 (Spectrum) (down 15)
Rebelstar's sequel expands on the original by introducing a time limit and some nasty aliens, as well as a more convoluted task to perform (steal alien eggs and escape, rather than just destroy the computer). It can be a bit frustrating however, so this and new entries see it drop 15 places this year.
36.Resident Evil: Director's Cut (Playstation) (down 15)...As does this Playstation survival horror. Essentially my "killer-app" for the PS, I happened upon the Director's Cut edition back in 1997 so here it is. Boy, a lot of PS games look really nasty on an LCD TV!
35.Strider (Megadrive) (up 7)
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaa! (Son, give me the controller, your Mum's home)
34.Chuckie Egg (Spectrum) (down 21)
Nigel Alderton's superbly playable platformer is one Spectrum game that never seems to age. I think I've been a bit harsh knocking down 21 places, but hey-ho...
33.Bubble Bobble (Arcade) (down 18)
Now this is one game that I never thought I'd like as cutesy platformers really aren't my thing. Ever since endlessly playing a five level Spectrum demo (I think it came with the first issue of ACE magazine) it's been a fave, although as good as the Spectrum version is, the Arcade machine is the best.
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| Negotiating killer rabbits in Braid |
Huzzah! A new entry! The only XBLA game on this list (I still get hot flushes at the thought of downloading games), it was one of my first purchases upon getting a 360 and I still tinker with the levels today, despite having completed it almost a year ago. A lovely, quaint game that is also maddeningly devious in places.
31.Cybernoid (Spectrum) (up 22)
A recent article on Cybernoid in Retro Gamer magazine rekindled my love of Raf Cecco's classic. An arcade game on your Speccy? Erm, no, but it was pretty damn close!
Nice selection, JD. Some I like and some I don't like but a nice mix. You've reminded me to try Myth as well - I used to be intrigued by the screenshots of it in Speccy mags but I never did get around to playing it :P I'll also be trying Braid for the first time soon (assuming my PS3 hasn't broken by the time it's installed all the necessary updates and stuff, of course)...
ReplyDeleteThanks Si. I highly recommend myth, but the speccy version does take a bit of perseverence with the controls...
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